Bracketology

I’ve told the following story to a number of folks over the years, but it just doesn’t seem to get old, so now it’s a Friday’s Note.

In the spring of ’94, my folks had just started their retirement. As a means of giving them something to do as well as a way to connect with my family back in Pittsburgh, I tried to talk my mom into starting a family basketball pool for March Madness. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Mom, let’s get a family basketball pool together for the tournament and see who wins.

Mom: What basketball tournament?

Me: The college tournament – it starts this week, there are 64 teams and they play until there is one team left.

Mom: I don’t think so, I don’t follow basketball, I don’t know the teams, is this on TV? How will we know who wins?

Me: You don’t have to know the teams, the newspaper has the printed bracket and the teams are ranked as to who should win and what their records are. Your guess is as good as anyone else’s as to who will win.

Mom: (after reaching for the sports section of the Post Gazette) You’re right, the bracket is in the paper. Ok, I guess we will do the pool, I’ll call your brother and sisters and see who may want to play.

So the family basketball pool was born. A few simple rules were established. All brackets had to be turned into Mom by the end of Wednesday to count. Each round the point value for a win doubles. Each person kicks in $5 (a donation from a tax perspective), the lowest scoring bracket get’s their money back and the winner and second place divide the remaining funds 75%/25%. Mom’s scoring of the sheets is final and not open to appeal.

So on Sunday I call home to see how things are going.

Me: Mom, just wanted to check to see how the pool is going?

Mom: This is so exciting, I’ve watched every game!

Me: Wow, I’m glad you are liking it.

Mom: Did you see that BC upset of North Carolina? I could hardly sit still, it was nerve racking!

Me: I missed that game, but saw the results – pretty big upset.

Mom: The games are great, but I wish the scrolling scores at the bottom of the screen were slower so I could keep up with who won so I can score the brackets.

Me: Mom, the scores and updated bracket are printed in the newspaper.

Mom: (after securing the sports page from Dad) You’re right, boy that makes it easier to score the brackets.

The stage was set for the two teams who had survived longer than the other 62 schools. The championship was between Arkansas and Duke. The night before the final game, I called home again to see who is winning the pool and if mom has been able to turn off the TV.

Me: Just checking in with you how the pool is going. So, who do you think is going to win the championship?

Mom: Oh, Duke can’t match up against Arkansas’ backcourt! Arkansas going to take it to them.

Me: What? Where did that come from? I think you have been watching to much ESPN.

And thus the family tradition was established nearly 20 years ago.

The next year my oldest niece was filling out her family bracket while at lunch during high school. A boy came up and made fun of her pick of UCLA to win it all and said she only picked the team due to the powder blue color and she didn’t know anything about the team. She proceeded to name, C O’Bannon, Zidek, Dollar, Bailey, and E O’Bannon – the Bruin’s starting five -then informed the misguided bracket critic that if he needed any more information on this year’s tournament he knew where to come. Little did he realize that my niece scoured the sports section cover to cover every day.

A couple years into the family tournament one rule was removed. After five consecutive years of coming in last, we did away with the ‘lowest scoring bracket gets it’s money back rule’, thus circumventing my dad’s yearly mad bracketologist efforts at picking teams for the sole purpose of retaining his five bucks.

One interesting family basketball pool fact was how my dog Auckie won the tournament no less than 3 times, notably in 1999, 2004 and 2011. Likely no coincidence those were the years that the U Conn Huskies managed to win it all. Making sure that Auckie directly received his winnings, the family sent $55 worth of dog treats to him one year.

As for the 2013 version of this subject, the following link takes an inventive twist on the tournament by ranking the schools in terms of their coolest alumni. Enjoy.

http://extramustard.si.com/2013/03/18/ncaa-tournament-famous-alumni/

Here is hoping that your March includes a little Madness.